Without Doubt by C J Azevedo (1 results)

Hardcover. Condition: Good +. First edition. Small quarto. Collation: [cross]4, A-2B8 (= 204 leaves); [4], 199 [i.e., 197], [3, contents]ff. (Text and signatures continuous despite various errors in foliation: leaves 51; 59; 69; 73 misnumbered 41; 49; 86; 75 -- leaves 167 and 168 omitted from foliation, but text is complete). Contemporary speckled calf, gilt-tooled spine with raised bands, morocco label. Light rubbing and wear at extremities (spine more heavily worn); mild marginal dampstains at outer leaves; clean tear (just extending into text) with cellotape repair 2A3; some intermittent light embrowning. A good or better copy, with generally clean, fresh text. First edition of this scarce anti-Jewish polemic in 100 chapters, presented in the form of a dialogue between a Jew in the process of religious conversion and his Roman Catholic instructor. A second edition appeared again at Lisbon in 1674. Each chapter deals with a particular question or concern, beginning with: "How the Jewish People are without God, without Law, and Rigorously Punished by Divine Justice" and concluding with: "On the End of the Holy Cross and the Creed." In some chapters the student will open up the discussion; in others, the teacher will begin. The Dialogo is similar in spirit to Fernão Ximenes de Aragão's Catholic Doctrine for the Instruction and Confirmation of the Faithful (Lisbon, 1625), in which the Dean of the Cathedral of Braga is especially concerned with the extinction of 'superstitions,' and of the Jewish sort, in particular. "This kind of literature can include the sermons preached in the autos da fé by learned priests whose exhortations were less for the purpose of saving the elusive souls of penitents than to feed the ever-living fire of popular hatred in the street." Even so, J. L. d'Azevedo goes on to note that the present collection of Baptista d'Este's exegetical polemics. "is considered the best work of the genre to come to light in Portugal." Born in Ferrara and baptized in Évora (adopting the surname of his home town's ducal family), the Italian-Portuguese convert to Catholicism and anti-Jewish polemist, Joao Baptista d'Este became a consultant in Jewish matters to the Portuguese Inquisition. As early as 1611, d'Este was involved with proceedings against one Antonio Homem, who stood accused of judaizing by the Inquisition at Coimbra. Kaysering describes Baptista d'Este as "one of [Homem's] worst enemies" and implies that the Jewish apostate may have been among those who continued to keep a close watch on the actions of Homem, after his initial acquittal by the tribunal. (Homem was in fact later discovered to be a practicing Jew.) As with many other Jewish converts to Christianity, Baptista d'Este became "a staunch enemy of those of his race" and "was in no way inferior in truculence to his predecessors in Spain, the friars Paulo de Santa Maria and Jeronymo de Santa Fé" (d'Azevedo). "In 1637 [Baptista d'Este] sent a memorial to the Pope, saying that his States, and the rest of Italy, were invaded by Portuguese Jews, of which at least two thirds had received baptism, and asking to have him heard by a cardinal in Rome or Inquisitor in Portugal, to whom would it prove lawful for Italian princes to confiscate the goods of these outlaws. In 1622, he had addressed an exposition to the confessor of Philip IV in which he advocated a general banishment. Now, having changed his mind, he urged the King to close the doors and prevent the new Christians from emigrating. The oscillations of the merciless Judeophobe corresponded to those of the government and common opinion, which sometimes, out of a desire to purify, opted for the radical means of expulsion, sometimes for economic reasons they renounced it" (d'Azevedo). The Dialogo was preceded in 1616 by Baptista d'Este's Consolacao Christia[n]a, a select commentary on certain Biblical Psalms which lend themselves to a Christian "messianic" exegesis. His "Summary of All the Festivals, Holidays, and Ceremonies, both from the Written Law and from their Talmud and Other Rabbis" remains unpublished. Provenance: manuscript entry of the Discalced Carmelite order at the title: "Carmelitos descal[e/c]os de Coimbra". References: J. Arouca, et al., Bibliografia das obras impressas em Portugal no século XVII, (Lisboa, Biblioteca Nacional, 2001-2011), no. E81. J.L. D'Azevedo, Historia dos Christaõs Novos Portugueses (1921), pp. 180; 219-221. Fürst, Bibl. Jud. i, 258. M. Kayserling, Bibliotheca, p.115 (anti-Jewish writings), noting d'Este as "juif baptisé"; Geschichte der Juden in Portugal (1867), 291f. USTC 5022182.